Magomed Ankalaev Vows To Knock Out Alex Pereira: 'His Chin is Gone'

Magomed Ankalaev claims he doesn’t need wrestling to dethrone UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira .

Pereira stepped up on 11 days’ notice to save the UFC 303 card, putting his title on the line against Jiri Prochazka in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. “Poatan” almost knocked Prochazka out cold at the end of the first round before finishing him with a head kick at the beginning of the second round.

Ankalaev, who is the next expected title contender at 205 pounds, called out the champ immediately afterwards. An ace grappler, Ankalaev believes he doesn’t need his ground game to beat the former Glory Kickboxing champion.

“Congratulations champ, I’m very impressed but the boss [Dana White] always says this is the sport of opportunities and all I want is an opportunity,” Ankalaev wrote on social media. “And I don’t need wrestling, I have enough striking to test your chin. I believe I will knock you out.”



Unbeaten since suffering his lone pro defeat in his UFC debut in 2018, Ankalaev has always claimed that it has been hard for him to find top-tier opponents. While Ankalaev was finally offered a title shot against Pereira at UFC 300 in April, the Russian standout didn’t accept the fight because he was observing Ramadan. Pereira went on to defend his strap against Jamahal Hill via first-round KO in the main event at UFC 300. Ankalaev is now confident that he gets the next title shot, as he is not worried about Pereira avoiding a fight with him.

“All these guys in the Top 5 have been knocked out,” he wrote. “I’m the best light heavyweight on the planet. None of these guys are on my level, and now I get to fight the champion and I believe he is not that scared of me like other ones.”